


Beach Day!

by fictionalportal



Series: Back to Beacon: Bees Edition [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Beach Volleyball, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical, Competition, Day At The Beach, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of past abuse, Missing Scene, Slice of Life, THEY DESERVE IT, just let them have fun again, repost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 07:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18912484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalportal/pseuds/fictionalportal
Summary: Blake discovers that spending a day in the sun can cause *severe* thirst. Yang and Nora's rivalry intensifies and Ren finally gets to build a sand castle.Featuring Weiss Schnee being Extra.





	Beach Day!

**Author's Note:**

> *This is a re-post of a work I previously put up here - I decided to list these as a series of one-shots instead of a multichapter. 
> 
> Let me know what scenes you want to see!

“Beach daaaaaaaaaaaaay!” Ruby's excitement was unmistakable. 

Weiss slammed her fist down onto her textbook. “Would you  _please_  stop screeching?”

“So much for quiet studying in the library...” Blake muttered to Weiss’ right. The heiress was an obnoxious perfectionist by birthright, and it made her an excellent study buddy. Efficient, focused, and silent. Without ever discussing it, she and Blake had fallen into a habit of meeting up after classes and getting most of their work done before returning to their room.

When Weiss had first approached her at their miracle table hidden behind the stacks, Blake had suspected that her teammate was just looking for an opening to interrogate her about her involvement with the White Fang. Instead, Weiss had greeted her with a curt nod and sat down across from her to read. Then it happened the next day, and the day after that. Eventually, Blake accepted the company. It was kind of nice, actually. At least there was one person on her team she could reliably get work done with. Ruby could barely keep her eyes on her paper for for than a few minutes and Yang, well...when Yang was around, Blake was the one getting distracted.

“Midterms are next week. We really need to study,” Blake insisted. In a futile attempt to drive Ruby off, Blake kept her book in front of her face--until it was snatched away and replaced with Ruby’s bright silver eyes.

“Come on! Don’t you miss being by the ocean?” Ruby asked, leaning across the table.

Blake glanced up at the pair of ears on her head. “Not really.” She didn’t make a point of publicizing it, but there were some cat-like behaviors she just couldn’t shake. Dislike for water, fear of dogs, love of tuna...

Ruby persisted. “But the sand, the sun--”

“I don’t really like sun,” Blake cut her off, recalling the time she’d gotten such a bad burn that her shoulders had turned as purple as her aura.

Ruby flopped over so that she was lying down on Weiss’ textbook.

Weiss practically growled. “Ruby.”

 _“Weiss,”_  Ruby answered, mimicking her partner’s seething tone in her much higher-pitched voice. “Don’t you want to see what a real beach is like?”

That earned her a confused stare.

Confusion bloomed on Ruby's face. “Atlas is snowy all the time, right?”

“My family owns one of the most successful corporations in the world. We went on vacation once or twice.”

Ruby groaned. “You guys have been in here for a week.”

“Two hours,” Weiss corrected.

“You have to take a break sometime. And it’s Saturday.”

Blake sighed and turned to her study partner. “I don’t think she’s giving up anytime soon.”

Weiss echoed Blake’s resignation. “I’m afraid you’re correct.”

Ruby sat up and hollered with joy.

“How are the librarians okay with this nonsense?” Weiss asked in disbelief.

“I told them we had a team emergency. Technically, I’m banned from studying here,” Ruby answered matter-of-factly.

“What?!” Weiss exclaimed, almost matching Ruby’s volume.

“Yang, too.”

Blake raised an eyebrow. “How did you two manage that?”

“I’ll tell you...on the way to the beach!”

***

The story of how Yang had accidentally set one of Ruby’s essays on fire and nearly wiped out the Vacuo history stacks occupied most of their travel time. Something about a dare gone very, very wrong--or, according to Yang,  _very, very right_. Blake couldn’t help but think back to the way she’d met Ruby. Apparently she and her sister really shared a penchant for spontaneous pyrotechnics.

The short train ride and subsequent walk to the beach were actually quite pleasant. Blake stayed under the shade of her floppy hat and sunglasses, a sheer coverup shielding the rest of her body from the harmful rays. Weiss wore a nearly identical blue hat that matched her rather large beach pack, leading Ruby to mourn the fact that they hadn’t  _all_ bought color-coded sun hats.

Yang was, of course, sporting her trademark aviators and a broad grin. She bounced a volleyball on the sidewalk as the team walked to the beach.

“I’m gonna kick Nora’s ass,” she swaggered, the overinflated ball springing up off the pavement.

Blake walked next to her, willfully ignoring the way her partner’s colorful sundress swished against her ankle with each step. “You could pummel each other into sand...or you could team up,” Blake suggested.

Yang stopped in her tracks, gasping. “Blake. You’re a genius.” She kept walking, dropping back from Weiss and Ruby by a few paces. They often fell into step like this, Blake noticed. She and Yang would slowly drift back, not even realizing it until Ruby would call to them to hurry up. “I knew I picked you for a reason,” Yang joked, still believing that they’d ended up together by a stroke of luck.

The heat pricking Blake’s ears definitely wasn’t from the sun. The partnering up trial in the forest was supposed to be random, but Blake had taken the whole thing into her own hands. She wasn’t about to get stuck with someone like--someone she couldn’t work with. She’d nearly picked Ren because he was so wonderfully quiet, but after watching him for a few minutes she realized their fighting styles were too similar. Pyrrha had probably been everyone’s first choice, but she’d glommed onto Jaune right away (Blake still couldn’t wrap her head around that).

Roars and explosions had drawn Blake to a pack of Ursai surrounding a devastatingly powerful girl with a wit to rival her fists. Blake had never told Yang that she’d watched almost the whole fight before intervening, vetting her potential partner carefully.

She supposed now was as good a time as ever. “Actually, um...”

“We’re here!” Ruby shouted. “I think I see Jaune.”

Yang searched the horizon for their friends, shielding her eyes with one hand. “Oh, yeah. Whoa, he’s even pastier than I imagined.”

Blake raised an eyebrow. “You think about Jaune shirtless a lot?”

“Uh, gross.”

Team JNPR was already set up right by the volleyball nets, much to Yang’s excitement. She ran over to Nora right away, dropping onto one knee and proposing a doubles partnership.

“Oh, Yang! I thought you’d never ask,” Nora responded, dramatically playing along. When the newly established duo high-fived each other, Blake swore she felt a genuine shockwave spread over the entire beach. Gods help their opponents.

Jaune jogged over to greet the newcomers. Judging by the faint pink patches on his cheeks and shoulders, his crew had already been here a while. “Glad you guys could make it. Ren’s been dying to come out here since the start of term.”

Blake looked past Jaune’s shoulder to see Ren building an impressively detailed sand castle. He waved cheerfully before returning to his work, using nothing but his hands and a stray seagull feather he’d found to carve out windows and individual brick patterns.

“So, I guess today's plan is ‘lose miserably at volleyball?’” Jaune asked. His eyes landed on Blake and she felt inclined to respond.

“Looks like it.” She cracked a smile, deciding then and there that she would move past tolerating Jaune’s team to considering them friends. Okay,  _acquaintances_. That was a step.

“In that case,” Jaune turned to Weiss, “Weiss Schnee, will you do me the honor of--”

“No.”

Ice queen indeed.

Blake tried to hide her amusement as Weiss sashayed to an unoccupied stretch of sand and dropped her bag.

Ruby raised her hand shyly. “I’ll play with you, Jaune.”

“Yes! We can be team ‘jer.’ No, that doesn’t work. Team ‘rage,’ maybe? ‘Rouge?’”

“Eh, we’ll workshop it,” Ruby said gently. They skipped off to the net, claiming their ground opposite Yang and Nora.

Before the inevitable bloodshed began, Blake took the opportunity to set her own gray towel down next to Weiss’ makeshift resort. Apparently her oversized bag had been harboring an entire beach blanket and pillow set, a huge ground umbrella, and a container full of fresh fruit.

Blake was fully content to just sit and read the whole time, but those plans were interrupted by a volleyball landing in her space before she could even sit down. So much for indulging in  _The Brigand’s Heartbeat_  by the seaside. Blake picked up the errant ball, noticing once again how much Yang had overfilled it.

“Whoops! Sorry, Blake,” Yang called. “I was aiming for Weiss.”

When Blake turned away from the indignantly scoffing heiress, she realized that there were much more interesting things to focus on than melodramatic pirate romance. Yang had discarded her sundress, leaving her in a yellow bikini. Her arms, her legs, her  _abs_ \--every taut muscle in her body was on full display, like some kind of goddess who’d charmed her way into competing in the Olympic games. When Yang raised a hand in the air to receive the ball, Blake froze, unable to tear her eyes away. It was such a simple gesture, and yet Blake felt compelled to capture the image in marble. She hoped her sunglasses would be enough to obscure her gaze.

Pyrrha’s voice finally snapped Blake out of it. “Jaune? I think you’re burning. Did you reapply?” She was already rummaging through a bag in search of sunscreen. The next second, she was slathering the lotion all over his shoulders.

Blake finally regained enough control of her motor functions to fling the ball back to Yang, who tossed a wink over her shoulder in thanks. It was enough to turn Blake’s knees to jelly--she had no choice but to sit down.

“I’m fine, Pyrrha,” Jaune whined, spitting out the unpleasant taste of sunscreen as she dabbed at the blossoming red splotches on his face. For good measure, she touched up Ruby and Nora’s noses as well.

When Pyrrha made her rounds to the last competitor, Yang brushed her off. “No way. I’m getting tan today.”

Pyrrha did the closest thing she ever did to rolling her eyes and nodded politely. “Good luck, everyone! Have fun.” She sat down on a red towel near Blake just as a popping sound proclaimed the first serve.

Jaune managed to dive and dig Nora’s serve just before it hit the sand, but it bounced off his forearms and into the net. He came up with sand stuck to every inch of his torso.

“Ooh, camouflage!” Nora teased.

“We’ll get ‘em next time, Jaune,” Ruby reassured him as she rolled the ball to their opponents.

Nora smacked another serve at them. It spun down fast, but Ruby was ready. She lobbed it back over the net--and straight to Yang.

Blake could see the spark flare in Yang’s eye as she crouched back into a half-lunge. She approached the net with two bounding steps, stopping short and rocketing up into the air. At the height of her jump, the heel of her right hand connected with the ball and blasted it straight down into the sand. Jaune stood there blinking, barely able to process.

“YEAHHHHHHH!” Nora yelled, spooking a flock of seagulls a ways down the beach. “Two-nothing!”

Ruby picked up the ball with a sigh, resigned to her fate.

Yang flexed her biceps in a premature victory celebration. Blake noticed, for the first time, that Yang had two little dimples on her low back. The observation made her seriously question whether her cardiac health was good enough to withstand watching the rest of this game. She looked around her space, absently licking her suddenly dry lips, and realized that she had forgotten to bring a water bottle. Even though she wasn’t sitting in direct sunlight, she was going to be rather miserable soon if she didn’t hydrate.

There might not have been any Grimm at the beach, but this was proving to be terribly dangerous situation nonetheless.

Fortunately, Pyrrha decided to strike up a conversation before Yang’s innocent showboating sent Blake to an early grave. Blake took note of the irony that, for once, she was relieved to be socializing.

“It’s a beautiful day,” Pyrrha started.

Blake hummed in response. “Sure is.”

Out on the sand, Jaune picked up Nora’s next serve and set Ruby up for a return.

“Way to go, Jaune!” Pyrrha cheered. She turned back to Blake and lowered her voice. “I’m not sure he’s played this game before.”

Blake smiled. She shifted in her seat, unsure if the question at the tip of her tongue was appropriate or not.

Pyrrha held out the tube of sunscreen. “Did you put some on?”

“I’m all set,” Blake said. “Thanks.”

“I’ll take some, Pyrrha,” Weiss chirped, leaning in to grab the tube and ever-so-slyly join their conversation. “I see you’ve opted for a name brand rather than a generic store tag. I'm glad someone here appreciates high-quality UV protection.”

Pyrrha let out an awkward laugh. “My mother always warned me that my skin would match my hair if I wasn’t careful in the sun.”

She turned her attention back to the game, leaving Blake to wonder if the eternally starstruck Weiss would ever be able to hold a normal conversation with the world-renowned fighter.

When Jaune whiffed his serve entirely, Blake couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. She just had to know how team JNPR had come to be. “Pyrrha?” She asked.

“Yes?”

“How did you know Jaune was right for you?” She realized that wording might sound a bit presumptuous. “As a partner, I mean.” Not much better. "Teammate."

Weiss still hovered nearby, more than a little interested in the answer.

Pyrrha’s cheeks flushed pink. “Oh, well, he really is smart, and sweet, and--”

Weiss crossed her arms. “What’s he going to do, hug a Beowolf to death?”

Pyrrha’s eyes widened at the image, then she laughed. “He would certainly try, wouldn’t he?”

“You’re sort of an unlikely pair,” Blake added.

“So are you and Yang.”

Blake felt her ear twitch at the mention of her own partner. “I just got lucky, I guess.” In an effort to cover up her own involvement in the process, she’d inadvertently said something much sappier than she intended.

“I’m not sure how much luck had to do with it,” Pyrrha said knowingly, raising an eyebrow. “Didn’t you--”

Blake’s glare cut her off. She recalled her decision to treat these people as friends-- _acquaintances_ \--and added in a softer voice, “She doesn’t know."

Weiss popped her head between them. “Know what, exactly? No more secrets, remember? You promised.”

Blake’s ears flattened against her hair.

Pyrrha’s eyes sparkled with a sympathetic smile. “I thought I saw something following me when I first landed in the forest. But those Grimm we fought weren’t nearly smart enough to bother with stealth.”

“Wait,” Weiss cut in, staring at Blake, “You  _stalked her through the woods?”_

“No!” Blake cried. “Not--not stalked, I...”

Ever the savior, Pyrrha rescued Blake from having to explain on her own. “You wanted to make sure your partner wouldn’t let you down.”

Blake let out an exhale and nodded.

“I suppose that's why I chose Jaune,” Pyrrha continued.

“Oh, you have got to be joking.” Weiss situated herself on Blake’s towel and placed her hand on Pyrrha’s shoulder. “It’s alright, really. We promise not to say anything if you picked him out of pity. That’s what it was, right?”

“Not at all,” Pyrrha chuckled. “I have faith in him.”

Just then, Nora spiked the ball and it hit Jaune squarely in the abdomen. He grunted as he caught it against his stomach and crumpled.

“Perhaps that’s misplaced,” Weiss muttered to herself.

Ruby threw her hands up and shouted across the court. “Go easy on us, will you?”

“No way, little sister,” Yang countered, her hands on her hips.

“We’d never insult you like that,” Nora piggybacked.

Jaune stood slowly, rolling the ball back. “Please, please insult us.”

“Uh, okay...you’ve got a really bad swim trunk wedgie,” Yang offered.

Ren jumped in, apparently finished with his sand masterpiece. “That’s not an insult. It’s a fact.”

“Quit stalling and face your doom, Wedgie Boy!” The glint in Nora’s eye could only be described as terrifying.

“Nora, play nice,” Ren called out again.

Jaune hung his head. “That’s okay, Ren. At least it’s better than Vomit Boy.” He trudged away from the makeshift court, still rubbing his sore belly. “I think I’m done for now, guys.”

“I said ‘quit stalling,’ not ‘quit.’” Nora huffed. She searched the vicinity for a new victim. “Ren?”

He shook his head.

“I could use a break, too,” Ruby said. “You guys are tough.” She and Jaune found spots in the shade near the cooler (probably Ren’s idea. He was always making sure his friends were well-fed).

“Well now who are we supposed to play?” Nora slapped the ball into the sand, grumbling to herself.

Yang’s gaze skimmed past her former opponents and landed on--

Blake’s eyes went wide.

“Eh? Guys?” Suddenly Yang was standing much closer, sweat glistening on her skin like dew drops.

Pyrrha hopped to her feet. “I’ll play.”

“Weiss?” Yang asked, looking to her other teammate.

“No thank you,” Weiss replied curtly, donning her sunglasses and lying back under her umbrella.

A mischievous smile twitched at the corner of Yang’s lips. “Blaaaaaaake,” she sing-songed.

A breathy “What?” was all Blake could manage. How was she supposed to form a coherent thought under these circumstances?

As if that weren’t already bad enough, Yang did something that definitely,  _definitely_  should have been illegal: she bent over so that they were on eye-level. Blake felt a sudden sympathy for Yang’s swimsuit top and all the work it must have been doing. There was really nowhere she could look to strengthen her resolve, not with those beautiful eyes staring her down and the expanse of freckle-dusted, sun-kissed skin framing them. Then Yang spoke again, extending a hand. “We can be partners if you want.”

“Hey!” Nora shouted.

Yang ignored her, clearly waiting for a response. Blake just shook her head.

The little frown on Yang’s face made Blake regret her answer immediately. “Aw, how come?”

Blake examined the sand at the edge of her towel, noting how a few grains had crept up onto the fabric. She tried to sweep them off, but the disturbance only resulted in more sand swarming her space.

“Pleeeease?” Yang pushed.

“I don’t want to get burned,” Blake said quietly.

“If we win, I’ll buy you a snow cone.”

Blake smirked, finally feeling up to the challenge of making eye contact. “Tempting.”

Yang tapped her chin. “Two snow cones?”

“You and your sister can be quite persuasive."

"Yes!"

Seconds later, Blake was standing barefoot on sand that was far too hot, sunscreen sticky on her back. She couldn’t very well play in her hat and coverup, much to her chagrin, but perhaps her black bodysuit with the sides cut out was too bold a statement. Compared to Ruby’s simple red one-piece or Nora’s teal board shorts that very clearly bore Ren’s lotus logo, Blake felt somehow overdressed. When she’d seen the swimsuit in the store, her first thought had been that it might be more appropriate for clubbing. Either way, it was on sale, so she bought it.

Plus, if she was being completely honest with herself, she looked damn good.

As the two teams set up for the next game, Nora poked her whole arm through the net and stabbed a finger at Yang. “I knew you’d betray me, Xiao Long. Now Pyrrha and I have no choice but to destroy you.”

“Sorry, Nora,” Yang said, refusing to hide her lopsided grin.

“Traitor serves first,” Nora announced, marching back to Pyrrha’s side and flipping the ball to Yang.

Ren stepped up to the sidelines, tacitly asserting himself as the referee.

The match lasted considerably longer than the first. They went back and forth, each team scoring no more than 2 points in succession. As they neared the end, Nora’s whole face was approximately the color of a tomato except for the still-pale white streak on her nose, courtesy of Pyrrha.

“Match point,” Ren declared. “The score is currently 14-13 in favor of--”

“Team Nora!”

“...Team Nora. Yang and Blake have a chance to tie--”

“Or  _lose--”_

“--With this serve,” Ren finally finished.

Jaune and Ruby had taken over Blake’s spot, both still recovering from their own game with frozen treats. Ruby’s shrill voice carried. “Kick their butts, Pyrrha!”

Yang gasped. “Ruby, you’re cheering against your own teammates? Your own sister?”

“No. I’m supporting Pyrrha because she’s very nice and sponsored this popsicle.”

Ren cleared his throat and put a hand up to quiet the spectators. “Miss Belladonna, the serve is yours.”

Blake backed up to the taped line. With two steps and a little hop, she sent the serve over. It had some spin on it, but Pyrrha picked it up easily and popped it up high. Nora’s set took most of the spin off, leaving Pyrrha with a perfect opportunity for a spike. She made a show of approaching the net, her right hand coming up high for the angle.

At the last second, Blake noticed Pyrrha’s left hand sneaking up higher. She wasn’t going for the hit--she was going to tip.

Yang was already poised at the backline for a dig. No way she’d get to the net in time. For half a second, Blake considered using her semblance to propel herself forward, but the hit came too quickly for her to react. As she predicted, Pyrrha barely tapped the ball with her fingertips and dropped it like a Nevermore's severed head. Blake lunged for the save, but all she got was a face full of sand.

Ren’s stern referee voice returned. “And that’s the match.”

Nora paraded about her side of the court and praised Pyrrha for her tactical brilliance. Pyrrha, as usual, looked about as comfortable with the excessive praise as Jaune did with his fresh new sunburn. They were good sports, though, and made a point of shaking hands with the “All-Time Losers” (Nora’s words, unsanctioned by referee Ren).

“Well, time for snow cones,” Yang said.

Blake picked up the volleyball. “But we lost.”

“Yep,” Yang replied, much more chipper than Blake might have guessed she’d be after losing.

“So...”

“So we definitely need to fill the void of defeat with sugary goodness.” Yang grabbed Blake by the hand and tugged her off the court, encouraging her to leave the ball behind.

“You know, I really don’t think that ball is regulation,” Blake joked as they walked up the beach to the snack shack. "You might want to let some of the air out." 

“It’s more fun this way.”

There were at least a dozen people waiting for food, some more patient than others. The solitary soul in charge of sales was struggling to keep up with the clamoring customers. Most of the shouters demanded immediate service because they had small children with low blood sugar, but there were suspiciously few small children to be seen. 

Blake felt a certain amount of sympathy for the cashier--until he panicked and slammed the window shut.

“Go away!” He was very much still visible behind the glass but his yelling came through muffled.

“What?!” Yang pushed her way through the mob and marched right up to the cashier.

He let out a frightened squeak and disappeared below the counter.

Yang tapped her knuckles against the glass.

“Nobody’s here!” The muffled voice returned.

In an effort to pull Yang away, Blake put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay.”

Yang groaned. “Beach day’s ruined.”

Blake looked around at the lingering crowd. From the looks of it, they weren’t going anywhere until the window reopened. Stubborn, exhausted parents could be formidable opponents until they got what they wanted...which gave Blake an idea.

“Hey, everyone!” She announced, mustering her rally voice for the first time in years. She caught a few annoyed glares but continued. “There’s another stand set up down that way.” She pointed down to the opposite end of the beach. Before she could even lie about the incredible ice cream selection this fictional second booth offered, the herd of feral parents was already stampeding down the sand.

The commotion was enough to bring the cashier peeking over the counter. “Are...are they gone?”

Blake nodded.

With a deep exhale of relief, he stood up and reopened the window. “Thank you. So much.”

“No problem.”

“It’s only my third day and I still don’t know where all the buttons on the regist--hey, you’re a Faunus!”

Blake realized all too late that she’d left her hat back by her towel and forgotten to recover her ears with her bow. The ears in question wilted forward as she looked down at the sidewalk.

She felt Yang’s arm drape around her shoulders. Her partner’s voice was firm, daring the man’s mouth to say something worth punching. “What about it?”

The cashier shook his head frantically. “Oh, no. I didn’t--I’m a Faunus, too.” He flattened his thick auburn curls against his skull and revealed a pointed, pale-furred ear. “Red panda on my mom’s side.”

Yang unwound from her protective stance, dropping her raised fist and letting her arm fall from Blake’s shoulders.

The cashier turned back to Blake with a nervous smile. “Thanks again for helping me out.”

“Won’t they just come back when they realize there’s nothing down there?” Blake asked.

“Actually, there’s food trucks every weekend.”

“Oh.”

Yang elbowed Blake’s ribs. “Maybe we should check those out.”

“Hang on,” the cashier interjected. “Can I get you something? On the house. You guys really saved my skin there.”

Blake shook her head. “We couldn’t--”

“Four snow cones,” Yang cut in.

“Two,” Blake insisted.

“Two snow cones,” Yang conceded with a grumble.

The cashier vanished into the shack. The loud crunching of the ice machine made it impossible to talk, so Blake settled for just looking at her partner. The light breeze coaxed her wild, blonde hair off of her lightly bronzed shoulders. That natural, magnetic confidence radiated off of her so effortlessly, especially in moments like this when she wasn’t even trying to be charming or funny. Even when she was just existing, she was...captivating.

She must have felt Blake’s eyes on her. That little lopsided smirk slipped out, the same one that appeared whenever Blake cracked a sarcastic joke at Weiss’ expense or voiced a particularly strong argument in class. Maybe there were other times, too.

The cashier returned with two red-and-blue snow cones in hand. “Enjoy!”

Yang grabbed the frozen treats and handed one to Blake.

Blake thanked the cashier and followed Yang to a shady seating area where a few families were eating lunch. Yang slid into one of the unoccupied picnic tables and Blake grabbed the spot opposite her.

“Look at you, using your powers for good,” Yang teased.

“And to think you wanted to extort that poor man,” Blake countered.

Yang took an unreasonably large bite, carving out most of the blue part of her snow cone. “I know these were free, but I kind of wish he’d asked what flavors we wanted. I hate the red stuff.”

Blake examined her own untouched blue ice. “Blue’s definitely worse in my book. We can trade.”

When Blake didn’t hear a response, she looked up to see Yang smiling at her again. There was something frighteningly unabashed in her expression that made Blake squirm in her seat.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Yang said, returning her attention to her snow cone.

“Hey, Yang?”

“What’s up?” That impossibly kind face...

What gave her the right to be so damn wonderful?

A thought crossed Blake’s mind: in another universe, that smile could have been for someone else.  _Anyone_  else. Weiss, Nora, even Jaune. There were probably a million other dimensions where they weren’t partners, and she knew she didn’t deserve to be the person basking in the glow of such a beautiful expression. If Yang ever found out...

It was probably better if she never knew. Then she wouldn’t have the chance to get angry about it and Blake wouldn’t have to deal with the possibility of never seeing that smile again.

Blake shook it off. “It's nothing.”

Yang raised her eyebrows. “Doesn’t seem like nothing.”

“Wha--neither did your thing,” Blake retorted.

“I was just thinking how lucky I am to have such a cool partner.”

How was she supposed to let that go?

“Blake? You there?” Yang cocked her head.

“That’s sweet. Thanks.” Her mumbled monotone was hardly convincing.

“Is something wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” Blake managed, her throat feeling tighter and tighter by the second. Forcing someone into a partnership, keeping so many secrets--how was she any better than...than  _him?_

“Why?” Yang got up and slid onto the bench next to her partner. “Blake, what happened?”

Blake felt like she’d swallowed a rock. No words could escape, not without stringing a whole mess of tears along. But then a gentle hand touched her shoulder and she was grounded, free to speak again without having to worry that she might replace herself with a shadow and vanish.

“I’m sorry,” Blake repeated. “It wasn’t--it wasn’t luck. In the forest. I picked you on purpose. Well, I actually tried to find Pyrrha first, but she and Jaune--” She cleared her throat, forcing the rock back down into the pit of her stomach so she could continue. If she was ever going to overcome the White Fang's influence on her, she had to start by coming clean about everything. “I was only thinking about what  _I_  wanted.”

Yang said nothing, only brushed a gentle thumb over Blake’s skin. How could her hands go from grinding Grimm into dust to...this?

“Now you guys are stuck with all my baggage. I put a target on all of your backs just by being on this team. That’s not fair.” She nearly apologized again but simply let the sentiment hang. There was a chance that every word she said made it just a little more likely that Yang would get up and walk away for good.

Instead, Yang’s hand found Blake’s under the table. “I really want to be offended that I wasn’t your first choice, but I’ll save that for later.”

Blake laughed, but it came out as more of a pathetic blubber.

“Everyone has stuff,” Yang went on, an unusual gravity coloring her tone. “Like, past stuff that they’d rather forget. So you spent a few years in the White Fang. You thought you were fighting for equality, and, I don’t know, I think that’s pretty brave.”

“Brave?”

“Yeah. We’ve all done stuff we’re not proud of or that we didn’t realize was wrong. It's not like the White Fang was a full-on terrorist group from the get-go, right?"

Blake stared at her blankly. How could Yang possibly be so blasé about this? Had she not been listening? Had she forgotten that horrible night on the docks already?

“I mean, it doesn’t have to define you forever,” Yang clarified. “You’re a good person, Blake. You threw a huge wrench in Torchwick's whole operation. Between that and all the Grimm we’ve taken down, you’ve saved a lot of people.”

 _I’ve hurt a lot of people, too,_  Blake thought. “Yang, you have no idea what it was like. What  _I_  was like.”

“I know you haven’t told me everything about while you were with them,” she started, somehow making it sound like the opposite of an accusation. An invitation? “But it seems like they really did a number on you in here.” Yang tapped Blake’s temple, nearly sparking an entirely overwhelming wave of feelings too complicated to dissect right now.

Before Blake could burst out crying, Yang’s voice broke through again. “You’re not with them anymore. I might not have known you back then, but I’m pretty sure you’ve changed a lot since you were younger. I know I have. Ask my dad. I was a total nightmare as a kid.” 

“I doubt that.” Blake cracked a smile.

“Someday I’ll tell you all about it.”

Blake’s ears perked up.

“Not like I’m going anywhere. There are plenty of bad guys left to punch after we take down Torchwick for good. And we’ll do it together.” She shifted so that she was straddling the bench, facing her partner fully. “Blake, I’m glad you picked me in the forest. If you hadn’t found me, I probably would have come after you.”

“What? Why? Really?” Trying not to sound surprised was much more difficult than Blake anticipated.

“Totally. You’ve got that whole mysterious and too-cool-for-normal-socializing thing going on. How else was I gonna get you to talk to me? Plus, if you’d snatched up Pyrrha and gotten me stuck with Jaune, I would've never forgiven you.” With that, the mischievous sparkle returned to her eye.

“Hm. Sounds like maybe luck had something to do with it after all,” Blake mused.

“Who knows.” Yang traded their snow cones and happily took a bite. “Either way, here we are. I’d say it’s pretty... _sweet.”_

Blake slapped her palm against her forehead. “Does your face do that every time you make a terrible pun?”

“What, this?” Yang grinned again demonstrably.

Blake was terrified for the day she accidentally let herself laugh out loud at one of those awful jokes.

“Hey, we should probably get back. It’s gonna be sunset soon.”

Before Yang could shift out of her seat, Blake grabbed her hand again. “...Thanks.”

“No problem. Thanks for trading snow cones with me.”

“Yang,” Blake pushed, resisting the easy pull of laid-back humor. “I’m going to stop the White Fang. I don’t know how, but I have to. After everything they’ve done, I can’t just stand by and do nothing.”

“Of course you can’t.” Yang said it as if she were saying the sky was blue. “We’re gonna help you, though. Sorry, that’s what you get for choosing me.”

Blake nodded, agreeing to Yang’s terms.

“Ready to go?” Yang asked. She waited for Blake to stand up before following her lead.

They took their time returning to the sand. Blake hadn’t entirely expected her partner to be so willing to dive into deep conversation like that, but she was even more surprised by their completely comfortable and silent walk back. They’d talked about things that Blake had never admitted to anyone--even herself--and a moment of peace was exactly what she needed. She was still afraid of her imminent battle, of course, but maybe now she wouldn’t feel like she was drowning every time something reminded her of a time before Beacon.

As Yang predicted, the sun was just about to touch the horizon by the time they spotted their friends. Nora and Pyrrha were still hitting the volleyball around. They’d apparently scared off any more potential opponents with their earlier display.

“Guys!” Ruby exclaimed when she saw her sister and teammate plodding over. “Where were you?”

Yang held up the syrup-soaked, paper evidence of their excursion. “Snow cones.”

“Back for a rematch?” Nora taunted.

“I think we’re good, Nora,” Yang answered.

Ren was busy shaking out towels and rolling them up neatly. “We should probably be heading back to Beacon soon.”

“Ugh, fine, Mom,” Nora said, slumping. She lobbed the ball to Pyrrha for one last rally.

Blake started gathering her things and noticed that Weiss was still lying down, just as she had been earlier. “Is she awake?”

Ruby decided to check by poking Weiss in the face. “Weiss. Weiiiiiiiss. Wei--”

With a loud snort, Weiss bolted upright. “What is it, you cretin?”

“Are you sleeping?” Ruby whispered.

“Obviously not. I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”

Nora’s battle cry interrupted them and--

An ear-splitting  _POP!_  echoed down the beach and over the ocean. Blake looked up to see that Nora and Pyrrha’s game had come to a very abrupt and explosive end: the object formerly known as Yang’s volleyball lay in a limp, deflated pile on the sand.

“I’m sorry!” Pyrrha called out despite very clearly not being the responsible party.

Jaune stared at the ball's corpse in disbelief. “Nora, you killed it.”

“Maybe the ball was our real enemy all along...” Nora tapped her fingers together deviously.

“One less thing for me to carry,” Yang shrugged.

As the party made their way back to the train station, Blake made a point of keeping pace with her friends.

***


End file.
